I’ll take the guy who says “Most of your problems are local, fix them yourselves” and spares me the empty promises and platitudes.
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Dems will take Florida and Texas before Reps take California.
The GOP.
Like a Wall, universal healthcare, manufacturing jobs and LGBTQXYZ rights? Who is really getting what they want out of that? The LGBTQetc.
I’m not sure how any of these things are causing me problems. Should they be?
They all pale in comparison to the tyranny of mask wearing. Where’s Harriet Tubman when you need her?
Are you pretending I’ve equated wearing a mask to tyranny?
The reality of shifting demographics (both ethnicity and age) will tend to expose the party for whom ‘tax cuts for the wealthy’ is basically the only play in the entire playbook.
A 17 point swing is nothing to sniff at, even if the substance of your post is correct. California isn’t some bloc of solid blue, after all.
Agreed. In the long stretch of history, I expect both situations will happen. CA will turn red for an election someday, and Texas will turn blue.
A 17 point swing isn’t nothing. But it’s always foolish to read anything into single district special elections.
It could be portentous, but probably not. Good to see Cenk Uyghur losing to the loser all the same.
Correct me if I’m wrong, @Californiagrown (or others):
With the exception of the urban centers (which wield a LOT of Political Muscle); California is not as “liberal” as people think.
(Isn’t the push of Northern California over the years to succeed a reflection of that?)
Look…because of those urban centers, you can never call it a blue or even purple State. But it is not like Conservative views are not expressed by the electorate.
I wonder if they are traditional conservative views or Republican “conservative” views. If I were to guess, I wouldn’t be surprised if the conservative views in CA were influenced by “liberal” views to varying degrees. For example, they might not be as anal about homosexuality and gay rights.
This is always a great question, @zecarlo.
I really do think that there are strong regional and cultural influences. There is also the idea of individuals (the greatest example being Trump) whose Political views are not molded by conviction, but by ambition and fulfilling narcissistic needs.
In terms of an example of the former; Ronald Reagan probably had much more in common with LA Liberals than say that conservative, Bible Thumping, evangelical preacher in Mississippi.
Reagan did support gun control. The pundits on the right who form the cult of Reagan, always fail to mention that.
@thunderbolt23 and others:
I must admit that I don’t have a “feel” for the origins of the Inspector General Office(s) of the United States; but I DO know that their job is oversight.
One thing is for sure. Trump has a stick-up-his-ass about the general idea of oversight, and is trying his best to fill those offices with cronies and yes-men.
I was going to put this under the “New Norm” thread; but I think that once Trump is gone, these offices, and their mission, are sure to be reevaluated.
Thoughts?
Oh - it’s bad. Very bad.
It’s unprecedented. The moment an IG moves into action to perform his/her statutory duty, Trump is countering to shitcan them. We need IGs in place to prevent corruption and improve transparent, ethical government - Trump is showing he will tolerate no such scrutiny.
This stuff doesn’t make headlines because it’s too arcane and procedural for most low-information voters, but it is a sign of very deep rot in the executive branch.
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I can vouch for this. Honestly, I consider myself anything but a low-information voter and I still had to check up on things with DoS IG. Certainly not readily available
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Here’s the list from CNN - four IGs fired. If an IG reports unfavorable news painting Trump in a bad light, they’re targeted for extinction. And recall he got rid of the watchdog who would oversee pandemic relief funds - can’t have any scrutiny of how you dole out funds when you want to shell out cash to businesses that are in your favor or you want something from them.
When we starting seeing IG firings, it made me ponder if they shouldn’t be under the Judiciary branch.
Reason being that they would be a third party providing oversight, perhaps similar to how a board (purely theoretical, l know) provides for a CEO and company.
Just musing.
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